Project HYACINTH
Project: HYACINTH was the codename for a highly classified series of biochemical and biomechanical augmentation procedures applied to five active SPARTAN-II commandos. The project was implemented by the Office of Naval Intelligence's Section One under the supervision of CODENAME: BISHOP. Augmentations The process of augmenting the SPARTAN-IIs was divided into two parts, surgical procedures and injection procedures. The surgeries were extremely risky - even compared to those of Project ASTER. Procedure To prepare the subject for the augmentation procedure, the subject's head is shaved and incision vectors are lasered onto the subject's body. An intravenous drip is inserted into the subject's arm, and a general anesthetic is administered to ease the subject into a state of unconsciousness. Once the subject has been sedated, he or she is transported from the pre-op wing of the facility to another area, where the surgical procedures are performed. The cerebrospinal hydrostatic compound surgery is the first procedure to be performed, due to it being the riskiest procedure. An incision is made at the base of the skull, and the compound is injected into the fourth ventricle of the brain via ventricular catheter. The surgeon then monitors the compound's effects via MRI scan and must provide corrective procedures and remove as much of the compound from the CSF as possible, in the event of complications. If the subject has successfully incorporated the CSHSC into their system, the next procedures can be performed. During the biomechanical neuron receptor surgery, a neurosurgeon cuts open upper-most part of the skull, exposing the brain. The neurosurgeon then performs an extremely advanced procedure to graft the implant hardware to the non-disruptive tissue above the neuron pathways. This procedure can take hours to perform, and throughout the whole procedure, no mistakes can be made. Once all the implants are successfully installed and linked to the previously-installed neural interface, the upper dome of the skull is repaired and the subject's head is bandaged. For the muscular enhancement surgery, the subject's muscles are painstakingly interwoven with a titanium biomechanical tension weave, and the titanium hardpoints are surgically implanted on the bones, for the weave to attach to. While this takes place, the circulatory reinforcement procedure is administered. It is a fairly simple process, as the subject's circulatory system is used as a template for the titanium nanites to replicate, and the nanites are simply poured over the entirety of the exposed veins. The carbide ceramic integration is performed last due to being the longest procedure to perform. This comprises of exposing the skeletal structure, removing a small layer of surface bone (no more than 3% of the bone's volume), and then bonding the carbide ceramic compound in lieu of the removed surface bone material. Once completed, the natural bonding of the skeleton and ceramic continues while other stabilizing and therapeutic procedures are performed. Once the augmentation procedures are finished, the subject begins a long recovery process. The healing process takes anywhere from weeks to months, dependent upon each individual subject's rate of recovery. Every day the subject performs stretches, isometric exercises, light sparring drills and consumes five high-protein meals. After each meal, the subject must report to the medical bay to receive a series of vitamin and mineral injections. Effects Although the subject is in a state of unconsciousness during the procedure, he or she may experience excruciating pain. Physiological stress brought on by the augmentations can produce cardiac arrest, in addition to cross-chemical complications that can result in augmentation failure. The side effects of completing the augmentations vary, as the subject's brain relearns how to move his or her body with faster reflexes and stronger muscles. The subject may experience neurological confusion such as falling over, exaggerated reflexes, and problems grabbing or holding onto an object. The subject may experience bleeding from the eyes or nose, constant migraines, and aches in the bones. Due to the risky and dangerous nature of the augmentation procedures, three of the five candidates either died or were heavily debilitated, as their bodies rejected the modifications being made. The augmentation procedures performed on the SPARTAN-IIs paved the way for a set of improved procedures known as Project ORCHID for the Spartan-IVs. Results While the casualty rate of the augmentation procedures was considered far too high for the project to be given additional funding for more subjects, the results on the successful candidates was unprecedented; the Spartan-IIs performed even further beyond expectations set by the results of Project ASTER's success. With the augmentations from Project HYACINTH, Spartans were able to now run comfortably at around 45 km/h (28 mph), and sprint at around 110 km/h (68 mph) - with the achilles tendon only feeling mildly sore. They could now lift up to roughly five times their body weight in-armor comfortably - while much of this was attributed to the Spartans' combat experience, they quickly discovered that they could lift well over six times their body weight with effort during the final year of the War. Their bones and the CSHSC were also quickly tested during the climax of the War, where falling from long heights, combat with Jiralhanae and Lekgolo, and the potential head trauma that came with those scenarios became increasingly common. Fortunately, the new ceramic compound worked perfectly, and broken bones were easily set correctly and healed normally while operating in the field. Concussions were also near-completely mitigated - Albert-091 was once slammed in the chin by a Jiralhanae chieftain's hammer shaft and was surprised at how clear-headed he was after such a heavy hit, where he felt he would've normally been reeling. However, the CSHSC fluid did have an unexpected side-effect, where such traumatic hits would result in nasal leakage of spent CSHSC. Their reaction times were decreased down from roughly 20 miliseconds to about 15 miliseconds, and improved even further down to 10 miliseconds when combined with a Smart AI. Albert-091 was capable of dodging plasma grenades thrown at him from behind by Sangheili with maximum effort, and flawlessly turning and shooting it within the same motion. Carrie-003 achieved multi-tasking skills on par with some "dumb" AIs, being able to coordinate intel data through her custom VISR network, while wrestling the Needler rifle out of a Sangheili's arms and killing it and 4 others with it. Category:Spartan-IIs